Chevy Chase girl forms neighborhood acting club

Chevy Chase resident Mary Madison England (bottom row, second from left) has started a Chevy Chase Acting Club with friends that will be open to children age 6 to 12. The club's rehearsals and performances will take place over five weekends in July and August. Top row, from left are Catie Stevens of Kensington, W. Harrison England, Oliver Brown of Takoma Park, and Caroline Stevens of Kensington; bottom row, from left are Emma Brown of Takoma Park, Mary, Alaya Jones of Silver Spring, and Teague Jones of Silver Spring.

Mary Madison England has studied for her next acting role so diligently that it has taken her eight years of preparation.

Since age 2, the 10-year-old Town of Chevy Chase resident has been pursuing the performing and dramatic arts in a variety of forms, from tap-dancing and piano to acting and ballet. During various classes in Washington, D.C. and Virginia, she spent hours at various rehearsals, made possible in part by her home-schooling schedule. Even during family dinners, she would put on face paint and costumes chosen from a vast selection in her basement, and dance to the delight of close relatives.

She recently reached something of a career milestone, when she and her brother Harrison, 12, appeared as Martha and George Washington, respectively, at the 118th performance of the Continental Congress sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution in the District on July 8.

"You can express yourself," Madison said of her love of acting and drama, "and when you do it, everyone sees you and loves it."

Her most recent idea, the Chevy Chase Acting Club, comes from more recent history, when England would perform plays with her friends as part of the "Fairy Tale Theater" in her Chevy Chase neighborhood. Her father, John Henry England, is also a children's music performer in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

"They just have so much personality," said her mother, Cecie England, speaking of Mary and Harrison.

The acting club, which is open to local children 6 to 12, is designed for young people to choose, rehearse and perform five plays over the course of several upcoming weekends. Mary said the performances could progress from the relatively simple, such as "Three Little Pigs," to more complicated plays such as "The Princess and the Pea," one of her favorites.

Some of her favorite movies include children's classics like "The Little Mermaid," "Chity Chitty Bang Bang" and "Mary Poppins," although she also enjoys thinking up her own ideas while on the swing set and writing them up later.

The club would be held at Mary's home on Chatham Road, and is scheduled to begin on July 17 and run through Aug. 14. Rehearsals would take place on Fridays, and shows would take place the following Saturdays.

In addition to having costumes and space available at her home, Mary wants to direct the play, as well as act. While she is precocious beyond her years because of her various experiences, she also wants to make sure that others get the chance to play prominent roles before she simply grabs both the director and leading actress roles.

"First, I'll see if anyone else could be the lead before I could be the lead," said Mary, adding that she prefers "dramatic, happy" leads.

Cecie England thinks that her two children are accomplished and knowledgeable enough in performing arts to take charge of the rehearsals and shows, saying, "They know how shows run. They are both good organizers."

Her brother Harrison thinks the acting club will also help create new friendships in the town among the budding actors and actresses.

"We've already met them, and it's a good way to set up play dates," he said.

One of Harrison's friends, Oliver Brown of Takoma Park, said he got interested in the club not through years of dramatic training or old Disney movies, but through the stage combat. "I just kind of got into it after watching Star Wars,'" he said.

Even with the acting club, though, Mary likes performing so much that she doesn't need an audience. She can always do what she often does and dance and sing "when no one's watching, in my room with the music."

"You get to actually make your character, sort of, and also do what your character would do," she said.